Correct syntax for Canonical - link or meta tag?

Question

I'm getting a little confused about adding canonical tags to pages. Some (most?) guides suggest using a link tag thusly:

<link rel="canonical" href="www.example.com/somepage" />

but some others suggest a meta tag like so:

<meta rel="canonical" href="www.example.com/somepage" />

Are both allowed? Which is right? If one is wrong, where does the confusion stem from?

Thanks.

Answer 1

The first one is correct. There is a meta tag for acknowledging the original work if you republish content but that is something else entirely.